From: newsletter-bounces@lists.magyarmarketing.com [mailto:newsletter-bounces@lists.magyarmarketing.com] On Behalf Of easzabo@magyarmarketing.com Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2006 8:44 PM To: newsletter@lists.magyarmarketing.com Subject: [Newsletter] Magyar Marketing Newsletter Issue No. 39 Newsletter Issue No. 39 Events - June 2006 ------------------------------------------------- Two Hungarian Festivals occured in June, and Magyar Marketing attended both. These annual events, Hungarian Day in New Brunswick, NJ, and the Detroit Hungarian Festival were filled with authentic Hungarian foods, music, and dance. The NJ festival kicked off with their traditional parade, and the Detroit festival sponsored by the Holy Cross Hungarian Parish was a 2-day affair. Another festival is coming up soon in Toronto, Canada. June 23-25, 2006 - Pontozo Hungarian Dance and Music Festival. The PONTOZÓ Festival is a showcase of Hungarian performing ensembles from North America. The first festival was organized in 1975 in New Jersey. The event's main goal is to bring together the best Hungarian folk dance and folk music enthusiasts working on this continent and help them in their dedicated work by allowing them to learn from each other and from knowledgeable experts. The Festival also gives a chance to the audience to witness a spectacular performance, enjoy close to a hundred participants from many Hungarian enclaves in North America! Kis-Balaton - Little Balaton ------------------------------------------------- Most people know Lake Balaton, the largest inland lake in Central Europe. The region of Lake Balaton is a major tourist area, and the shores have been built up to accommodate vacationers. The Kis-Balaton or Little Balaton located southwest of the Balaton, however, is a huge wetland habitat and birdwatchers paradise. The Kis-Balaton has not given way to development and its shores have large reedy areas. These areas are full of many rare plants and animals. The Kis-Balaton is home to one protected species that has already died out in other parts of Europe, the Great White Egret. The Kis Balaton has managed to survive despite the draining of the marsh in 1922. As a result of the reconstruction of the wetlands started in the mid 1980s, waterfowl have returned to formerly deserted habitats. More recently Hungary’s Ministry of Environment has declared part of this area officially protected. So far over 250 species of birds have been identified as well as other rare plants, insects, and animals. See magyarmarketing.com's Newsletter link to view a picture of the Great White Egret. Travel Tip - Elvira: Timetable of Hungarian Railways ------------------------------------------------- If you will be traveling to Hungary and plan to use the railways, you can plan your trip easily by accessing the Hungarian Railways timetable at www.elvira.hu/ Although it is not possible yet to purchase tickets on-line, the website provides up-to-date information on arrival and departure times. The website can be viewed in Hungarian, German, and English, and the Frequently Asked Questions section is full of useful information. On-Line Dictionary ------------------------------------------------- A great on-line Hungarian-English dictionary is available at www.szotar.sztaki.hu/ SZTAKI stands for Számítástechnikai és Automatizálási Kutató Intézet or Computer and Automation Research Institute. There are over 185,000 entries and also a section for business & finance terminology. _______________________________________________ Newsletter mailing list Newsletter@lists.magyarmarketing.com http://lists.magyarmarketing.com/mailman/listinfo/newsletter

Thanks, Geza, for the reference. I just found a list of the most popular Hungarian names given in 2005 (http://index.hu/politika/bulvar/nev3536/) and was quite surprised: Rank Boys Girls 1 Bence Anna 2 Máté Viktória 3 Balázs Réka 4 Dávid Vivien 5 Dániel Zsófia 6 Levente Petra 7 Tamás Dorina 8 Ádám Fanni 9 Péter Boglárka 10 Gergő Eszter Some of them seem to be what used to be only nicknames for more traditional ones (Bence/Benedek, Gergő/Gergely). This list is very different from what I presume is the following more traditional list. I don't know what era this is from (I cannot translate the heading), but these names seem to be far more familiar: Leggyakoribb utónevek a teljes lakosság körében Boys Girls 1. László Mária 2. István Erzsébet 3. József Ilona 4. János Katalin 5. Zoltán Éva 6. Sándor Anna 7. Ferenc Margit 8. Gábor Zsuzsanna 9. Attila Julianna 10. Péter Judit Janet

Is Demeter a common Hungarian given name? Does it have meaning? I saw it as a given name while searching surnames on Ellis Island.I was rather surprised because it is a surname in my family tree. Evelyn

Is there an english version of Geza? Elizabeth V. Cardinal evc1369@comcast.net

I did not say, nor did I mean to imply, that the alleged “approved“ list contained only the names of saints. Geza and Árpád are two obvious examples that are not. However, those names are certainly covered by the name days, as well as many other “non-saint“ names (http://www.hungarotips.com/customs/ndays.html). (My good friend Lajos Reich was kind enough to let me know that even Zsanett has a name day--May 30.) There are several references on the Internet to this so-called official list of names, but I have not seen any sources given. It may be a myth that it was a legal requirement. Many European countries share the custom of celebrating name days. I would guess that it began as a religious observance, but as the custom became secularized, non-saint names were added to the calendar so people would not be left out. Geza, I stand corrected about my too-quick comment about Árpád. It is a good reminder that even ancient names had origins and meanings. Janet

<<As my name, Géza, is not a saint's name, I hardly believe this supposition (not because it's mine but because it's highly improbable that it has ever been banned by the church).>> No name is banned Geza but the use of a Saints name as you described was required to have you baptized. It might be why we see Mary, Ann, John, Joseph and the like so often as middle names. They did satisfy the church. As far as the influence of the RCC is it not true that they were responsible for re-populating villages that were destroyed by the Turks? If I remember correctly, this happened in many villages in Veszprem Megye. The Monks brought people from Germany to populate Band and Pula for example. Elizabeth V. Cardinal evc1369@comcast.net

I think the influence of the Roman Catholic Church was so great at one time in Hungary that they demanded the use of Saints names. At one time, and perhaps even now, you could not have a child baptized without one of his/her names being the name of a saint. Elizabeth V. Cardinal evc1369@comcast.net

The origin of the given name Árpád is much simpler than a “pet name“ based on the noun for barley. It is the name of the chief of the seven Hungarian tribes who conquered the Hungarian basin in the 10th century. Some of Bela Kalman's examples seem rather odd, but I think he was mainly studying names that occurred prior to the 16th century. I think there are better discussions of Hungarian name origins out there. I have heard that in later times, at least until fairly recently, given names were required by law to come from a list of those that were acceptable, most of them biblical and/or named for saints. Any truth here? Since name days are celebrated in Hungary rather than birthdays, I have sometimes wondered what happened with people who were given unusual names that would not show up among the name days. Janet

Dear Janet, Thank you for the concise study you have given this discussion regarding names. My first thought on the surname Nagy was perhaps it was the connotation of "great" which might seem likely and more desirable, but a search confirmed your meaning of "big." The World of Names, A Study in Hungarian Onomatology by Bela Kalman includes Nagy as "Masculine Names denoting physical stature." Other examples given were Kisid, Kusid (small, little), Ero, Eros, Eroka (strength, strong), Hitvand (weak, sickly, or perhaps a protective name), Kemend (hard), Csepke (tiny), Kurta (short), Gyenge (weak)...I wonder how does this differs from Hitvand? It is interesting, the author goes on to say that protective names which were given to newborn babies for the purpose of keeping away evil, harmful demons. He lists these under Religious, superstitious names. Some illustrated were Szemet (dirt), Nemvalo (non-existing), Mavagy (exists today, but is so weak as not to live until tomorrow), etc. The author cites many names of "Turkic" derivation. One would think these religious or superstitious names would be "given names," but the author does not distinguish. The author, when identifying given names calls them "personal names." Anyone want to expound on this? The author mentions Arpad as the hypocoristic (pet name or name of endearment) form of the noun arpa (barley). The name Arpad was initiated by the upper social strata. Name giving (personal names) became monotonous: 16th Century the first 7 names (of the persons examined) belonged to almost 40% 17th Century the first 7 names belonged to almost 57% 18th Century the first 7 names belonged to almost 72% Fortunately in the 19th Century given names became more adventuresome. Marika

Dear Frank, Nagy, meaning big, is indeed the most common surname in Hungary. (See http://www.bogardi.com/gen/g021.htm.) Kovács, meaning smith, is second. Smith is the most common surname in English-speaking countries. Hmm. It makes one wonder how Nagy came to be so common. Big, or Bigg, is not especially common as an English surname. But we might call someone “Big John,“ which in Hungarian would be Nagy János. Since Hungarians put the surname first, followed by the given name, “Big John“ might have become adopted as a full name (surname + given name) instead of its original meaning (adjective + given name). Any other hypotheses floating around? Janet

Dear Evelyn, There is no Americanized equivalent for Arpad. If an immigrant named Arpad wished to have a more American name, he could choose anything he liked. There is a good chance he might choose another name beginning with A, but that would not be necessary. Varga, meaning shoemaker, and Lakatos, meaning locksmith, are extremely common Hungarian surnames. According to one source, Varga is the 7th most common name in Hungary; Lakatos comes in at 44th. To put this in some perspective, Miller is the 7th most common American surname and Turner is the 44th. Janet -----Original Message----- From: EEH2198@aol.com [mailto:EEH2198@aol.com] Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2006 3:58 PM To: HUNGARY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [HUNGARY-L] Hungarian Names Could someone tell me what the Americanized name of Arpad would be? Also are the surnames Varga and Lakatos common names like Smith or Jones? Thank you. Evelyn Ehlert

Could someone tell me what the Americanized name of Arpad would be? Also are the surnames Varga and Lakatos common names like Smith or Jones? Thank you. Evelyn Ehlert

DCBUGAN@aol.com wrote: >Hello Listers. I'm trying to find out where in Ohio my Slovak grandfather >would have gone when he immigrated from Hungary? I can't seem to make the town >name. Was there an area where the Slavs went in Ohio that was more popular >than others? >Thanks for any help. >Darlene > >BUGAN SMEHIL(various spellings) HOLES^ ANDRSIK > Hi Darlene, pretty difficult to generalize even Ohio places, but if he immigrated around 1900+ the steel mills around Youngstown were offering lots of opportunities for employment. If you would just share with the list the respective manifest we might be able to come up with the right place. Joe Equinunk, PA - USA jjarfas@ezaccess.net

I don't think you gave enough information for us to help you. Are you looking for Bugan? What was his given name? When did he immigrate? Through Ellis Island? The only Bugans I saw in the EI records that were going to Ohio were Janos (1903) and Martin (1913), going to Youngstown, and Martin (1905) and Sandor (1906), going to Struthers, which is basically a suburb of Youngstown. Janet -----Original Message----- From: DCBUGAN@aol.com [mailto:DCBUGAN@aol.com] Sent: Saturday, June 10, 2006 5:34 PM To: HUNGARY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [HUNGARY-L] where in Ohio? Hello Listers. I'm trying to find out where in Ohio my Slovak grandfather would have gone when he immigrated from Hungary? I can't seem to make the town name. Was there an area where the Slavs went in Ohio that was more popular than others? Thanks for any help. Darlene BUGAN SMEHIL(various spellings) HOLES^ ANDRSIK

Hello Listers. I'm trying to find out where in Ohio my Slovak grandfather would have gone when he immigrated from Hungary? I can't seem to make the town name. Was there an area where the Slavs went in Ohio that was more popular than others? Thanks for any help. Darlene BUGAN SMEHIL(various spellings) HOLES^ ANDRSIK

Thank you for all the everyone who took time to help with my query. I thought it had to be Slovak because I am familiar with Hungarian phrases. Thank you it is a big help. Margaret

Hi Margaret, Looking into my Slovak dictionary: pálit is burn, as from a fire. pluzgier is blister. Marika

Does anyone recognize this phrase as an illness> "palivy pl'uzgier"? I am wondering about the spelling. My niece and her cousin are researching their family and the area was Hungary and is now in Slovakia, so does this make any sense? Hungarian or Slovak? Any help would be great. Thank you. Margaret

I sent your email to my cousin in Hungary. His surname is Nagy and his wife is a Toth. We also have others in our line by the name of Toth. They all live/lived in Veszprem Megye and I do not know where Miskolc is located. Elizabeth V. Cardinal evc1369@comcast.net

In a message dated 6/8/2006 9:00:13 AM Eastern Daylight Time, peregrine@execulink.com writes: > My Mother and grandparents came from Miskolc area.. > Maté > ...Kollarcsik..Szekély...Toth...Nagy...Kreston...Szurkos..Érsok..Kanya...Mark > us > and Ambus. > does anyone on this list have any of these surnames from the same area? > Dear Robert: Yes, my husband's mother was a NAGY before she married Geza SZAZ. Her name was Magdalena and she was born May 21, 1902 in Miskolc. Her father was Geza NAGY who was born January 1870 in Onod, Hungary and died in 1927 in Miskolc, Hungary. Geza NAGY's father was Aloysius NAGY born in 1840; he married Maria GHIKA who was born in 1847. Maria is descended from the GHIKA family that ruled Wallachia and Moldavia during the 18th and 19th centuries. I have the GHIKA family back into the 16th century; there is an excellent GHIKA website at http://www.ghica.org. I do not have the NAGY family any farther back than Aloysius. Jayne perllan987@aol.com